


the bro-claration escalation

by FlorBexter



Category: My Engineer (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Humour, Hurt/Comfort, Kankun Family Feels, M/M, Post Season 1, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-02
Updated: 2020-06-02
Packaged: 2021-03-04 07:00:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,844
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24509560
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FlorBexter/pseuds/FlorBexter
Summary: “Brothers,” he whispered, and the word still felt ugly and wrong on his tongue.Had he seemed too desperate? Had Thara realized, when Frong had asked him to come to the volunteer camp with him that Frong was crushing on him? Had he come out of pity and had then established boundaries?
Relationships: Thara/Frong
Comments: 14
Kudos: 137





	the bro-claration escalation

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not gonna lie, I felt for Frong I really did when Thara bro-zoned him but I also laughed my ass off. Thara is such an interesting character because I have no idea what is going on in his head.  
> This story is going to be a more lightheaded exploration of the aftermath of the bro-claration and wow am I looking forward to season 2!

“Are you alright?”

Frong focused his eyes on the face of his brother, looming over him, and sighed.

“No,” he said.

First raised a brow at him. “You didn’t take any drugs on that volunteer camping thing, right? Are you coming down from a high?”

“What? No!”

“You are laying in the middle of the room like a starfish, forgive me for thinking some _spices_ made you think you are actually one.”

Frong opened his mouth to defend himself again but then asked: “That’s very specific. You want to share a story?”

First disappeared from his field of vision without another word and Frong made a mental note to come back to that piece of information later.

For the thousands time that day, he raised his hand to look at his phone and frowned at the picture of him and Thara. Had he lost his game? Had he, again, misinterpreted every sign and made himself the fool again? He still felt the ghost-like touch of Thara’s fingers against his neck, where he had clasped his necklace, for which he had searched through the whole camping site and the surrounding area.

“Brothers,” he whispered, and the word still felt ugly and wrong on his tongue.

Had he seemed too desperate? Had Thara realized, when Frong had asked him to come to the volunteer camp with him that Frong was crushing on him? Had he come out of pity and had then established boundaries?

The thought that he maybe had made Thara so uncomfortable that he had felt the need to make a point about them being like brothers made something in Frong’s chest churn. Frong liked to flirt, yes, and sometimes it was fun to tease and joke, but he would never overstep a line and when it had been clear that Duen was with Bohn he had stepped back, he hadn’t even told Duen about his feelings so he wouldn’t cause friction between them.

Wait.

“Phi?”, he asked and heard the naked feet of his brother coming back into the living room. “Is it possible for a whole gen pool to dislike something?”

Frong felt his brother’s eyes on him and strained his neck back to look at him.

“Erm… I don’t think genes work that way.”

Frong thought so too but could it be a coincidence that both Duen and Thara rejected him? Maybe he was a bit full of himself right now but how likely was it to get turned down by two people who also were cousins?

“Nong?” First squatted down next to him and put his hand on his shoulder. His face was solemn and earnest. “I know the situation with mum was a big scare, but you really shouldn’t seek refuge in drugs, she’s fine.”

Frong swatted First’s hand away in annoyance. “Knock it off. I’m not taking drugs…”

“But there is something on your mind.”

More like someone, Frong thought sullen. He had stared out of the window at the drive back, with Thara next to him, and had tried to make sense of the onslaught of emotions surging through him. Disappointment, anger, frustration, and most of all confusion. He knew that being nice wasn’t the same as flirting. Flirting needed intent and apparently there hadn’t been any kind of intent behind Thara’s actions which okay, it had been nice of him to search for Frong’s necklace but Frong’s gaydar couldn’t be that wrong, right?

“I don’t want to talk about it,” he murmured when First made the impression of staying at his side until he would make a drug test. First patted him on the shoulder again and stood up. “You know where to find me if you change your mind.”

Frong didn’t reply.

It had felt so easy with Thara. He frowned. Maybe not easy, but comfortable. Had he projected? Had he imprinted himself on Thara like a baby duck because he had comforted him during his mother’s hospital stay? And now his back hurt and he felt silly lying in the living room like the lead of a drama. He sat up and took a last glance at his phone. Hadn’t there been a spark?

“Brothers, huh?” He really had the worst luck with his love life.

Apropos brothers. “Where is P’Fang?”, he asked and sat down at the kitchen table and stole a piece of carrot First was cutting.

First pointed the knife threateningly at him that’s why Frong took another piece.

“He has a date,” First informed him and took the cutting board away from Frong’s reach.

“At least he has an existing love life,” Frong murmured. Maybe this was a sign that he should concentrate on studying and helping around the shop, maybe his stars weren’t in the right constellation for love right now. Maybe he was doomed to fall in love with round-faced guys with a mile-wide kindness-strike. He let his head sink onto the table.

“You sure are weird today,” First said and put a piece of carrot in front of his face.

* * *

“Are you sure you feel well enough to work in the shop today?” Frong knew that he hovered. He hovered around his mum since she had entered the shop and if she would let him, he would wrap her up in cotton and carry her home. She patted his hand and smiled up at him.

“I’m sitting here in the back and will cut some flowers, arrange some bouquets. Nothing strenuous.” She wiggled the shears. “But if I have to stay at home for another day, I will use them to cut through our door.”

Frong snorted against his will. “Okay. But if you need something you will yell, okay?” She patted his hand again and looked a little bit like she was ready to use the shears on him, so he put on the apron and walked back into the shop. The displays for their wedding arrangements had to be renewed and First had left behind a detailed plan on what should be put where. Since he had more or less taken over the shop, he went a bit wild with his ideas, Frong thought but he wasn’t going to say something if this was the way his brother coped with everything.

Something soft collided with his shin and he looked down at Miette who, now that she had his attention, mewed at him.

“Oh, the queen is also here,” he said with a big smile and bent down to pick her up. She swatted her fluffy paw at his nose gently and he couldn’t resist and buried his face in her soft fur.

“If this isn’t the cutest thing.”

Miette mewed in protest when Frong jerked away and both, human and cat, stared at Thara who had his phone raised and smiled at them widely. Frong felt how his heart went into overdrive and for a moment he had no idea what he should do nor how he should move his body. Should he put Miette down, should he just run out of the shop?

“If I had known this shop is pet-friendly I would have taken Cupcake with me,” Thara said and Frong quickly looked away from him and put Miette down onto the little cat-throne they had set up for her in the shop.

“Are you taking photos of me again?”, Frong asked and cleared his throat when the question came out rough.

“Oh, I’m going to send it to you,” Thara said and Frong fled to the counter. Normal! He had to act normal. He had been able to act as if nothing had happened when they had driven back from the camp and he would do the same now even if it killed him.

“P’First didn’t say that Phi would come by today to pick up flowers,” he said and leafed through their order book. It gave him an excuse to not look at Thara who wore a tight, black shirt today and why did he suddenly realize that he had these kinds of broad shoulders Frong wanted to put his hands on? 

“Today is my grandmothers’ birthday so I wanted to surprise her with a lavish bouquet. She always says we shouldn’t spend money on that kind of thing, but she is going to secretly love it.”

“That’s a nice idea,” Frong said and thought that it was also very thought- and insightful and it made his heart ache. Thara was an observer full of empathy, and more and more Frong got the feeling that he knew exactly that Frong had fallen for him and had gently pushed their relationship in a lane that was more comfortable for him. Which was simultaneously painful and nice but if that was Thara’s decision Frong wasn’t going to fight him on that. He had been able to be a friend to Duen and see him in a relationship, he could survive being just a friend to Thara, too.

“On the right, we have the display with the bouquets that aren’t made for a wedding. We can do something more customized for your grandma too of course and…”, he closed his mouth and waved his hand towards the display of flower arrangements because babbling wouldn’t get him out of this situation.

Thara just continued to smile at him, indulgent and fond, his hands in the pockets of his pants, and Frong had no idea why but he had the urgent need to smack a bunch of flowers over his head. That feeling wasn’t something new if he was honest. He was always torn between wanting to strangle Thara’s neck and kiss the daylights out of him. Even when Thara had come into the shop the first time and had wanted to pick up his jasmines. Unfairly attractive, Frong had thought.

“What is her favourite colour?”, he asked and used all his willpower to stay polite and nice for the next ten minutes until Thara had decided on a bouquet overflowing with peonies, roses, and lilies.

“Did you get the message from P’Win, too?”, Thara asked when they stood at the counter and Frong wrapped paper around the flowers.

“Oh no, my phone is in the back,” Frong lied because he had put his phone on airplane mode for the last days in fear Thara would text him and ask him to do bro-things with him. “What did he want?”

“He wants to do an end-of-term get-together tomorrow, are you going?”

Frong’s knee-jerk reaction was to say no. He wasn’t done wallowing in heartbreak and while he wanted to stay friends with Thara he wasn’t sure if he could pretend to be okay with that at the moment.

“I’m not sure,” he said and took Thara’s credit card to process the payment, “I think I will decide spontaneously.”

“Call me if you need a ride,” Thara said with a wink, his smile so wide his teeth were showing, and this time Frong couldn’t suppress the grimace on his face. Thara just chuckled and left the store with a wave.

Oh, this was torture, Frong thought.


End file.
